What a treat – Rick Bayless cooking and serving his food on Friday morning. (Annie Brown)

Friday started like this – star chefs Rick Bayless and Susan Feniger cooked a huge breakfast, and served it to people who made it into the Food & Wine Classic event at the Hotel Jerome in Aspen. Bayless, naturally, went Latin: chilaquiles, tamales wrapped in banana leaves, churros. Feniger, whose newest restaurant in Los Angeles, called Street, explores the world’s street foods, served lettuce bowls with Korean rice inside, a fruit salad with sunflower seeds that was fantastic, fried bananas with a sweet cream. The dishes, too, were served with cocktails.

Nice way to get the engines started. I long have admired the two of them, and have cooked for 20 years from their books. When I mentioned to Feniger a recipe for ribs that I adore from one of her early books, she immediately knew it and said, “those ribs really are out of this world.”

Duff Goldman, a Baltimore baker, and David Funaro from Godiva Chocolate, talk about the sweet stuff. (Annie Brown)

And then things really got rolling. Chefs began appearing on stages in rooms around the town, giving lectures on wine, on cooking tricks, on sushi-making. I caught two – Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons demonstrated how to braise lamb, and then use the leftovers for other things; and star bartender Jim Meehan showed how to make cocktails for big parties. A friend also caught Mario Batali talk about cooking the Sicilian way, for summer dinners, and a pair of chocolate experts doling out tips for cooking with their favorite ingredient.

In between, enormous tents filled with vendors serving wine, beer, cocktails and food, and plugging products, opened to the public. The emphasis, here, was drinking. Even the popsicles that people passed out were filled with tequila. In the tents, people lined up to get books signed by Mario Batali, Jacques Pepin, Thomas Keller, Floyd Cardoz and many more. They watched a group of chefs that are on the cover of Food & Wine magazine this month – and heralded as America’s top new chefs – cook and serve food; Danny Bowien, the chef at Mission Chinese in San Francisco and New York and the recipient of a James Beard Award this year for rising star chef, garnered the most attention among the group. With his shoulder-length dyed blonde hair and wispy facial hair he was hard to miss.

Around dinnertime, the parties began. I stopped by Jimmy’s for a gig sponsored by the country of Peru, where bartenders were slinging pisco sours and other cocktails made with pisco, a clear grape brandy that is ubiquitous in the country, and servers walked around passing out ceviche, fried shrimp, and other goodies.

The publisher’s party at Food & Wine Classic had a Mexican theme. (Douglas Brown)

The publisher’s party, on top of Aspen Mountain, was the night’s big event. Guests took gondolas to the summit, then wandered around a big ski lodge that was made to feel like a fiesta on the Yucatan peninsula – Mexico sponsored the party. Every other cluster of partiers contained a foodie celebrity. Marcus Samuelsson, in a white sport coat and bow tie; Michael Voltaggio and his gazillion tattoos; Danny Meyer, always grinning; Bobby Stuckey from Frasca Food & Wine in Boulder. Stuckey should have been tired – the guy stalked the floor selling wine at The Little Nell on Thursday, where he worked before moving to The French Laundry in Northern California, and then opening Frasca. He was apparently still pouring wine at 1:30 a.m. on Friday morning.

The parties continued, until the wee hours. The last one I hit was a dessert party in the Hotel Jerome, hosted by Gail Simmons, a Top Chef judge. By the time this party started, at 10 p.m., I found it difficult to make room for yet more food. But it’s tough to turn down free dessert, isn’t it?